Even better, when you refinance to a lower-rate loan, it lowers your monthly payment. You could continue to pay the higher payments you were making before the refinance to get debt paid off on an accelerated timeline. That $10,000 at 18% over seven years would have monthly payments of around $210 monthly. If you refinanced to a 9% loan with a seven-year repayment period, the required payment would drop to $161. But if you kept paying the $210 you were paying before, you could repay the loan in just five years and pay only $2,418 in interest. You'd make payments for two years less and save yourself $5,252 in interest.
Reputable credit counseling organizations have staff counselors who are certified and trained. These counselors can discuss client financial situations to help them develop a personalized plan for their economic issues. An initial counseling session typically lasts an hour, with an offer of follow-up sessions. A reputable credit counseling agency should offer free information about itself and the services it provides without requiring potential clients to release any details about their situation.

When it comes to paying off credit card debt, many consumers take the path of least resistance: the so-called "minimum payment plan." By law, credit card issuers are required to set a minimum monthly payment amount for each cardholder. These payments are calculated on the basis of the cardholder's total balance, interest rate and certain other factors.

If you decide to start a debt management plan, there will likely be a one time set-up charge and a monthly fee for the cost of administering the plan. These fees are determined in part by your state of residence and will be calculated by your counselor during your credit counseling session. If you feel that a fee will be too much of a burden for you to pay, talk to your counselor. If you qualify under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services poverty guidelines, you may be eligible to a fee waiver.
American Consumer Credit Counseling (ACCC) is a non profit credit counseling agency offering services such as debt advice, debt consolidation programs, and consumer bankruptcy counseling. We have provided thousands of families with financial counseling and helped them with consolidating bills and paying off credit cards. For consumers in need of bankruptcy counseling, ACCC is approved by the Department of Justice to provide both pre bankruptcy credit counseling and post-bankruptcy debtor education.
The Federal Reserve says that the average household debt is up to $132,529 (including mortgages) a jump of 11% in the past decade. Credit card debt and auto loans are climbing over the $1 trillion mark. Student-loan debt has hit a staggering $1.3 trillion with 44.7 million borrowers, who owe an average of $37,172. That figure alone is up 186% in the past decade!
So I called National debt relief some man by the name of eric was you can say helping me out . Once I was into the phone letting him know my problems he cut me off and told me he knows no one or and him himself couldn’t help me at all . I didn’t even get the chance to even let him know everything that was going on . That was such a waste of time and I’m here so anyone else shouldn’t waste their valuable time on people that don’t care for their customers ! Happy holidays and suggest to keep away from National debt relief especially eric could have gave his last name , but clicked on me before I could have even got it.

credit counseling agency for a consultation doesn’t impact your credit at all since the fact that you’ve sought help is not reported to the credit reporting agency. If you enroll you in a Debt Management Plan, where you make one monthly payment to the counseling agency and it disburses payments to your creditors, however, it can affect your credit in several ways.

It makes me so sad when I hear people longingly say “I wish I could do that” because chances are THEY CAN. Maybe not the same way as me, or at the same speed (heck maybe they could even go faster!), or under the same circumstances, or using the same exact methods (except for the only spending money they already have part…) but they can certainly do more than just wish or feel bad about themselves.
Credit counseling is done largely over-the-phone or online, but can be done in-person at a home or office. Counselors conduct 30–40 minute interviews to gather information about your financial situation. They will ask questions about income, expenses, budgets and assets. It is best to have this information documented and available when you begin the process.
What Does National Debt Relief Do? National Debt Relief is a leading debt negotiation company with a BBB A+ rating and thousands of positive client reviews. So what does that mean? We negotiate with your creditors to get a reduction of your outstanding credit card balances. We get your creditors to agree to a lump sum payoff amount and they will forgive the rest of your balance. Debt negotiation is one of the most effective choices available to consumers if you qualify. It’s a great choice if you have more debt than you can pay off in a 2 – 3 year time frame or are experiencing a financial hardship that has you falling behind (or just about to be) on your monthly payments.
I don’t know where to begin. as of 2 days ago I had about 1800$ coming back to me after the final settlement. I call to verify and close account and 2 days later I see totally different numbers in my account. the balance I had is gone. Its like my account was rewritten to hide the excess. I know what I saw 2 days ago. Something is off and after I added up what I paid and what they settled my accounts for there is a lot of money missing in general. almost 4000$ what did I pay out in hidden fees!!?? If you are considering using this company think again PLEASE.
The Credit.com editorial team is staffed by a team of editors and reporters, each with many years of financial reporting experience. We’ve worked for places like the New York Times, American Banker, Frontline, TheStreet.com, Business Insider, ABC News, NBC News, CNBC and many others. We also employ a few freelancers and more than 50 contributors (these are typically subject matter experts from the worlds of finance, academia, politics, business and elsewhere).

Debt consolidation loans are a well-known, well-advertised option for consumers who struggle with debt. These credit facilities exist for the express purpose of paying off outstanding unsecured debts and do their job quite well. When you take out a debt consolidation loan, your lender immediately pays off your existing creditors and starts billing you for the balance.

This company works with unsecured debt – typically credit cards – as well as medical debt, private student loans and personal loans. Its debt settlement plans require you to stop paying your creditors and instead make payments into an escrow account set up by National Debt Relief. You control the money in this account. After several months of making installments into this account the settlement firm will begin negotiating with your creditors.

About a week later I checked my accounts to see if there was anything else settled and I noticed what’s the balance of my account had drop tremendously. So I I clicked on the transactions and see they’ve made a small payment to my creditor plus $10 for 2 day air which it actually cost $6.70 and then I see a deduction for their fee which was more than 6 times the payment they had just made to my creditor leaving my account at less than $10 balance. I contacted clear one expressing the fact I settled the account not them and why was I being charged such a fee and why would they drain the account leaving no money to make the next payment to my creditor or to settle any of the other accounts what I was told was they had a right to pay themselves. After I did explain to them that I settled the account not them they dropped it to half of the fee for the account that I had settled but mind you this is the only 1 account after four months that have been settled. At this point all of my accounts are now going into collection,the amounts owed to my creditors have gone up considerably my credit has dropped tremendously so I start sending them the collection agencies information. In the six months they finally settled the second account. Lo and behold their fee amount because the amount due has gone up there fee has gone up the amount due is gone up because he never made contact what’s the Creditor to make a settlement. They make one $25 payment to that creditor and then pay themselves thier fee draining all the money out of my account again leaving me nothing in the account to make the next payments to both those creditors intern lost both of the settlements.

Want more examples? I like public speaking. I like good pizza more than probably anyone should. And I volunteered to be interviewed in a national magazine about my experience with living with and recovering from social anxiety, a mental health disorder I used to have. I’ve made many many mistakes, and will likely make many more. Those just aren’t any of them.
Credit counseling is done largely over-the-phone or online, but can be done in-person at a home or office. Counselors conduct 30–40 minute interviews to gather information about your financial situation. They will ask questions about income, expenses, budgets and assets. It is best to have this information documented and available when you begin the process.
To get out of debt quickly, you have to look closely at your assets. Real estate assets that are expensive to maintain, life insurance policies that are no longer necessary but have expensive premiums and investments with returns lower than the interest rate on debt should all be converted into cash right away. Be aware of the tax implications of liquidating assets. Typically, proceeds from a life settlement and money from the sale of a primary home aren’t taxable. Check with a certified public accountant before making any big moves.
First, if you want to avoid late marks on your credit report, you will need to make at least one month, possibly two months, of “double payments”: one payment to the debt management service and your regular payments directly to your creditors. Since most people cannot afford this, you must be prepared for the possibility of getting a late mark on your credit report.

With debt settlement, your attorney will ask you to stop making payments to your creditors and instead, contribute money on a regular basis to a fund. When the fund reaches a certain level, the attorney will approach creditors and seek an agreement to settle for that amount. If the creditor accepts the agreement, the debt is considered settled. Read more about debt management vs. debt settlement.